Cool on climate march
To The Editor:
Re “Confessions of a reluctant climate-change marcher” (news article, Sept. 25):
This is some of the best reporting I have ever seen by Sarah. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Now, my take on the march. I think there were flaws. First, there were no messages from the organizers about taking personal responsibility and the participants making changes in their own lives.
Also, there was no real attempt to encourage local events around the country, which would have gotten a much wider message out.
Third, I live in North Carolina now, and the politicians here just approved fracking and the state is a Tea Party Republican-controlled state because of funding from the Koch brothers, the Chamber of Commerce and others. The march organizers should have encouraged people to go home and organize to get rid of these type of politicians.
Regarding China and India, there are studies that include the U.S. with them at the top of the gas-emissions chain, and in many ways, American consumers and big corporations like Walmart are driving the production of consumer goods in India and China that are fueling the industrial changes that have rapidly increased emissions in those countries.
Finally, there was no message about using mass transportation, getting rid of personal autos and not having children as a personal way of changing the out-of-control situation. I am glad that I have no children because, if I did, they would be in big trouble in the not-too-far-distant future.
John Penley
Better diet, better climate
To The Editor:
On Sun., Sept. 21, hundreds of thousands of people around the world marched, demanding action on climate change. One hundred twenty world leaders gathered in New York for the United Nations Summit on Climate Change. What can we do?
A 2006 U.N. report estimated that meat production accounts for 18 percent of manmade greenhouse gases. A 2009 article in the respected World Watch magazine suggested that the contribution may be closer to 50 percent.
The meat industry generates carbon dioxide by burning forests to create animal pastures and by combustion of fossil fuels to confine, feed, transport and slaughter animals. The much more damaging methane and nitrous oxide are discharged from digestive tracts of cattle and from animal waste cesspools, respectively.
In an environmentally sustainable world, wind, solar and other pollution-free energy sources must gradually replace polluting fossil fuels. Similarly, vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains must replace polluting meat and dairy products. The large variety of widely available plant-based entrees, lunch meats, veggie burgers, cheeses and ice creams can certainly help.
Our next trip to the supermarket is a great opportunity to start the transition to a sustainable world. Our favorite Internet search engine offers ample product lists, recipes and dietary tips.
Nico Young
Get with it, Bill!
To The Editor:
“‘Drop the appeal!’ N.Y.U. project opponents cry” (news article, Sept. 25):
We hope that Mayor de Blasio will do what’s right and “drop the appeal.” The city was wrong to illegally give N.Y.U. the rights to use our parklands on Mercer St. and Laguardia Place for the university’s construction of the intrusive N.Y.U. 2031 project.
It’s time for de Blasio to do what he was elected to do: be our mayor, not N.Y.U.’s lapdog.
Sylvia Rackow
Rackow is a member, the Committee to Preserve Our Neighborhood
Nauseating blame game
To The Editor:
Re “D.O.E. now says adult league can use schoolyard” (news article, Sept. 11):
Here’s how real estate in this community works:
You see an apartment during the day or early evening. You immediately rent the apartment before anyone else can. Then you unfortunately find out later how bad, how seriously bad the problem with noise, puke, defecation, broken bottles, underage drinking, and catcalling obnoxious “bros” and drunkards looking for a fight really is.
This I have heard time and again when I meet people in the streets in the Hell Square area: “I really didn’t realize how bad it is down here at night before I moved here.
So, Principal Polin, where is the fully informed “choice” that people have made to live among out-of-state vomit on the street of their own community? Polin’s outrageous presumption completely disregards the people who have lived in the community for decades and have seen their neighborhood transformed into an alcoholic theme park.
Polin, if you have time to organize flower-arranging classes, great, more power to you. Our community members are too busy at State Liquor Authority and community board meetings stopping other nightclubs from springing up.
David Troutman
Forever Father Nick
To The Editor:
Re “Mgr. Marinacci, 103, of Old St. Patrick’s” (obituary, Sept. 25):
Monsignor Nicola Marinacci is my grandfather Nicola Antonacci’s nephew. I always called him Father Nick. He had a very Italian accent. He had such a warmth about him.
He was the one who told me the town my grandfather came from in Italy, and that is how I traced my family tree in Italy.
You will always be Father Nick to me and I will always love you.
Debra Carpentieri
Beyond affordable units
To The Editor:
Re “Panel ponders saving buildings and affordability” (news article, Sept. 25):
Rent-regulated housing constitutes 46 percent of the city’s rental units. Add in Mitchell-Lama rentals, Section 8, public housing, etc., up to 60 percent of the city’s rental housing is regulated in some form. The statement that there’s been a “failure to support affordable housing in the last 20 years” is a point-blank denial of the facts worthy of Fox News.
What is needed is an innovative approach to urban revitalization that understands housing units are only one part of the puzzle. Jobs, community and transportation are just as important parts of the equation.
The mindless demand for more units and more money — always argued in an us-against-them manner — is what breeds failure.
Mark Tyler
E-mail letters, not longer than 250 words in length, to news@thevillager.com or fax to 212-229-2790 or mail to The Villager, Letters to the Editor, 1 Metrotech North, 10th floor, Brooklyn, NY, NY 11201. Please include phone number for confirmation purposes. The Villager does not publish anonymous letters.
